Heather Barber to Serve as Faculty Athletic Representative

Heather Barber, associate professor of kinesiology, has been tapped to oversee academic integrity and student-athlete welfare as UNH’s Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR), President Mark W. Huddleston announced this week. Barber, a former college coach whose research is in sports psychology, assumes the role from professor of kinesiology Steve Hardy, who served as UNH’s FAR since 1997.

“Heather brings extensive experience as a coach, a faculty member, and a researcher of collegiate athletics to this important position,” says President Mark W. Huddleston. “I am pleased that she has accepted my offer to serve in a capacity that ensures the ongoing excellence of UNH’s intercollegiate athletics program.”

Required of all NCAA member institutions, FARs serve as liaisons between institutions and their athletics departments, ensuring academic integrity and student-athlete welfare within the athletics program.

Barber, who coached swimming at the Division III Wellesley College in the 1980s, praises UNH athletics for its strong commitment to academics as well as its excellence in athletics. UNH boasts a 96 percent graduation success rate among its student-athletes, consistently the highest in the America East conference. “We’ve maintained that balance of athletics and academics. I think we’ve served our students very well,” she says.

“It is an exciting time for me to take on this role,” Barber adds. “While there are challenges ahead in athletics, for sure, we have an excellent athletic program with coaches and administrators who support the academic program of the university. We have true student-athletes.”